The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Veronica, botanically a Veronica of hybrid origin and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Blue Sprite’. ‘Blue Sprite’ represents a new herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new invention arose from an ongoing breeding program by the Inventor in Glencoe, Ill. The objectives of the breeding program are to develop improved cultivars of interspecific hybrids of Veronica with novel ornamental traits such as disease resistance, drought tolerance, cold hardiness and compact stems.
The new cultivar arose as a seedling derived from open pollination of an unnamed and unpatented plant of Veronica allionii in 2007. The male parent is therefore unknown and the new cultivar is presumed to be of interspecific origin based on it characteristics. ‘Blue Sprite’ was selected in 2009 as a single unique plant amongst the resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by shoot tip cuttings by the Inventor in 2009 in Glencoe, Ill. Asexual propagation by shoot tip cuttings and division has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.